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Everything Electronic in Georgia Voting

Aired November 05, 2002 - 13:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Hanging chads, dimpled chads -- my favorite were the pregnant chads. Some of the complications that clouded previous votes that won't show up in Georgia today, at least, that's what we're hoping.
CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman joins us now from one polling area. Everything is electronic this year, Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Everything is electronic, Marty.

You know, in 2000, it was Florida that got all the infamy, because of the hanging chads, but Georgia actually had more problems in the state of Florida, a higher percentage of ballots were spoiled in this than Florida. You just didn't hear it about it as much, because the election wasn't as close. So that's part of the reason that Georgia has become the first and only state in the United States to have touch-screen voting in every, single precinct, in every single county in the state.

We'll, here in Dunwoody, north of Atlanta, you can see these are the touch screens behind me, There are eight of them, and eight people voting at them right now. The secretary of state here in Georgia says absolutely no major problems, so far, statewide in the 159 counties with these machines. They're all the same, and this is how it works.

You take your voter access card, which they give you, when you sign in and you stick it in the slot and that may be the hardest part of the voting here. It then loads the ballot.

This is not the ballot that people here are voting with. This is a sample ballot, but you will recognize the names, "Famous Leaders." You pick one of them, in this case, one we'll pick the father of our country, George Washington -- I'm telling you my votes. "Famous Georgians" is the next one, I'll pick Otis Redding, and famous athletes, I pick Jackie Robinson.

Then press next. You move on, you press for constitutional amendments here. I'll go, yes, yes, and yes. You press next. And then you get to the final page, summarizes your votes. Do you want to change anything? I have the right to change something. I'll change "Famous Georgians." You can't overvote, you see. But what you do, if you want to change it, you press "Otis Redding," you cancel him out, then I press "Harry James." I press "Next." I press next. I get to the final page of this ballot, which gives me the summary again. I'm satisfied. I cast my ballot. The card comes out and, voila, you are done voting. So how do people feel about it? We will tell you right now. Standing here, a married couple, Pam and Elliott, just finished video voting for the first time. What do you think about it, Pam?

PAM, VOTER: I thought it was fabulous, very state-of-the-art.

TUCHMAN: Was it easy, Elliot?

ELLIOT, VOTER: Piece of cake.

TUCHMAN: Any problems with it at all? Anything confusing, when you stepped up to it?

ELLIOT: Even the people in Florida could have gotten it right.

TUCHMAN: A slap against the Sunshine State. So you'd recommend this for other voters?

PAM: Excellent.

TUCHMAN: OK. One of the things is you don't have as much privacy. You can walk by and kind of see what people are doing. That's one thing I noticed. That bother you at all?

PAM: No. You have the little things on the side, so you can't see over.

TUCHMAN: OK. Well, thanks for talking with us.

ELLIOT: Thank you.

TUCHMAN: Good luck, both of you.

PAM: Take care.

TUCHMAN: Thanks for being good citizens and voting. We do want to say the only problem they had here today, one of the machines, the plug wasn't in the outlet all the way. It went dark. They put the plug went in, everything's working fine right now.

Mary, back to you.

SAVIDGE: Funny how that works, Gary, just plug it in. All right. Thank you very much for that live update.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 5, 2002 - 13:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Hanging chads, dimpled chads -- my favorite were the pregnant chads. Some of the complications that clouded previous votes that won't show up in Georgia today, at least, that's what we're hoping.
CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman joins us now from one polling area. Everything is electronic this year, Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Everything is electronic, Marty.

You know, in 2000, it was Florida that got all the infamy, because of the hanging chads, but Georgia actually had more problems in the state of Florida, a higher percentage of ballots were spoiled in this than Florida. You just didn't hear it about it as much, because the election wasn't as close. So that's part of the reason that Georgia has become the first and only state in the United States to have touch-screen voting in every, single precinct, in every single county in the state.

We'll, here in Dunwoody, north of Atlanta, you can see these are the touch screens behind me, There are eight of them, and eight people voting at them right now. The secretary of state here in Georgia says absolutely no major problems, so far, statewide in the 159 counties with these machines. They're all the same, and this is how it works.

You take your voter access card, which they give you, when you sign in and you stick it in the slot and that may be the hardest part of the voting here. It then loads the ballot.

This is not the ballot that people here are voting with. This is a sample ballot, but you will recognize the names, "Famous Leaders." You pick one of them, in this case, one we'll pick the father of our country, George Washington -- I'm telling you my votes. "Famous Georgians" is the next one, I'll pick Otis Redding, and famous athletes, I pick Jackie Robinson.

Then press next. You move on, you press for constitutional amendments here. I'll go, yes, yes, and yes. You press next. And then you get to the final page, summarizes your votes. Do you want to change anything? I have the right to change something. I'll change "Famous Georgians." You can't overvote, you see. But what you do, if you want to change it, you press "Otis Redding," you cancel him out, then I press "Harry James." I press "Next." I press next. I get to the final page of this ballot, which gives me the summary again. I'm satisfied. I cast my ballot. The card comes out and, voila, you are done voting. So how do people feel about it? We will tell you right now. Standing here, a married couple, Pam and Elliott, just finished video voting for the first time. What do you think about it, Pam?

PAM, VOTER: I thought it was fabulous, very state-of-the-art.

TUCHMAN: Was it easy, Elliot?

ELLIOT, VOTER: Piece of cake.

TUCHMAN: Any problems with it at all? Anything confusing, when you stepped up to it?

ELLIOT: Even the people in Florida could have gotten it right.

TUCHMAN: A slap against the Sunshine State. So you'd recommend this for other voters?

PAM: Excellent.

TUCHMAN: OK. One of the things is you don't have as much privacy. You can walk by and kind of see what people are doing. That's one thing I noticed. That bother you at all?

PAM: No. You have the little things on the side, so you can't see over.

TUCHMAN: OK. Well, thanks for talking with us.

ELLIOT: Thank you.

TUCHMAN: Good luck, both of you.

PAM: Take care.

TUCHMAN: Thanks for being good citizens and voting. We do want to say the only problem they had here today, one of the machines, the plug wasn't in the outlet all the way. It went dark. They put the plug went in, everything's working fine right now.

Mary, back to you.

SAVIDGE: Funny how that works, Gary, just plug it in. All right. Thank you very much for that live update.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com